The New York Times reports on the surge in transit ridership and the lack of any plan for a shift in public policy to provide *more* service.
But meeting the greater demand for mass transit is proving difficult. The cost of fuel and power for public transportation is about three times that of four years ago, and the slowing economy means local sales tax receipts are down, so there is less money available for transit services. Higher steel prices are making planned expansions more expensive.Typically, mass transit systems rely on fares to cover about a third of their costs, so they depend on sales taxes and other government funding. Few states use gas tax revenue for mass transit.In Denver, transportation officials expected to pay $2.62 a gallon for diesel this year, but they are now paying $3.20. Every penny increase costs the Denver Regional Transportation District an extra $100,000 a year. And it is bracing for a $19 million shortfall in sales taxes this year from original projections.“I’d like to put more buses on the street,” Mr. Marsella said. “I can’t expand service as much as I’d like to.”
Many rush hour routes are at capacity for the first time. People are coming to understand that the era of cheap oil is over and transit is now one of the absolute best investments in our economy we can make. Our political strength is growing. We need a much more aggressive investment in transit from different sources of revenue than the local sales tax. Transit agencies need to evangelize a bold vision for more transit for more people in more places than ever before to address the new reality of very expensive gasoline. And by the way, did you notice that in this story that is tailor-made for “what should we do about this new problem” — that there is no call to action? That’s because (in my view) we have not yet articulated what our vision for transit in a $4 or $5 /gallon gasoline nation should be. We should triple ridership and expand transit to more people in more places. And we should make it very clear what we think the nation and each state should do to implement that vision to generate more investment in transit. Until we can articulate what we want, we will continue to miss opportunities to capture the public imagination to invest in more transit. It’s time to be bold!
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